The spread, which features seven models in technicolor wigs lounging around a brightly-colored room, is, they say, “strikingly similar” to W Korea’s “Birthday Girls” cover story from March 2012, which — what do you know? — likewise depicts seven models in technicolor wigs lounging around a brightly-colored room. The paper calls the shoots “nearly identical,” but while the photographer and creative director who worked on the Melissa shoot declined comment, fashion director Neil Stuart called it a “coincidence” and contended that the concept was in the works 18 months to two years out.

Putting aside the fact that two years seems like an awfully long lead time to be developing the not-quite-revolutionary idea of colorful wigs in a colorful room, the two photos WWD uses to illustrate the similarities are, oddly enough, probably the least effective pairing from the spread.

For instance, in the photo they chose, Melissa seems to have gone the garish, multi-textured route with the styling, while W stuck to softly rumpled pastels. And while the former was intended to show off the model’s footwear, in the latter most of the model’s feet are out of the frame or hidden under layers of tulle. And yet, another set of images shows just how blatantly alike the two shoots truly are.

What do you think? Are the similarities to striking to ignore? Or could this just be an unfortunate coincidence?